THURS­DAY THE MAR­TIAN

WITH LEIGH PAATSCH

6.05PM, FOX­TEL PRE­MIERE Sci-fi is rarely as in­stantly com­pelling as it does here. Matt Da­mon stars as an as­tro­naut ac­ci­den­tally left for dead on Mars who must sur­vive the four years it will take to be res­cued. What fol­lows is an in­volv­ing (and sur­pris­ingly plau­si­ble) tale of re­silience. Crosses to NASA HQ in Houston move with an up­beat ur­gency that is dis­arm­ingly en­joy­able.